Over a dozen men followed him into the alley, but they looked at one another in bewilderment.
It was a straight alley without any forks. With all the doors closed, they could see all the way down to the other end. However, Qin Yi was nowhere to be seen.
They saw him turning into the alley just now, and there was no way he could’ve gotten out so quickly.
However, they could take in everything at a glance, and no one could possibly hide behind the brooms or dustpans leaning against the wall. Where on earth was Qin Yi?
“Guys, don’t let him fool you. He couldn’t have left this alley. Spread out and search carefully. He’s probably hiding in one of the houses.”
They gradually spread out and headed for various houses.
Behind the man who had killed the original Qin Yi, a spiked club slowly materialized next to a few dustpans.
“Bang!”
There was an earsplitting explosive sound—so loud that their ears buzzed. Turning around, they saw that the man’s head was gone, which showed how hard the blow was.
They then saw Qin Yi emerging from next to the dustpans before he ran back out of the alley at top speed.
The group of men felt as if they were dreaming and didn’t know what to do for a while.
It was one of the basic Taoist techniques: concealment.
He neither made himself invisible nor conjured a vision. Rather, he had put on something resembling camouflage as a form of visual deception. Of course, it was cleverer than camouflage, for it was at least a cultivation technique…
To other people, there were only a few dustpans next to the wall, and they never would’ve thought that Qin Yi was hiding right there.
When a warrior knew cultivation techniques, they couldn’t be stopped…
Meanwhile, Qin Yi had run happily out of the alley.
He had ambushed those men just to take revenge. Luckily, his enemy was right next to where he had been hiding, and he was able to bash his head in like a piece of cake. Even if the man hadn’t been close, he was still planning to make a sudden appearance, jump the man, and kill him.
After killing one of his two murderers with his own hands, his unresolved resentment decreased considerably and he felt a lot more relieved, which was a very nice feeling.
He suspected that once he had successfully taken his revenge, he might feel such fulfilment that he could make a breakthrough. The bottleneck of his internal energy might be broken, and he could reach the Innate Stage. Maybe his newly found spiritual essence would benefit from it as well.
He was still pondering the possibility when that soft beancurd vendor came at him through the crowd and yelled loudly as he ran.
Qin Yi grinned, revealing his nice white teeth.
He stopped running. Instead, he turned around and charged at his pursuers.
The large group of men running after him were so astonished by this change of events that they halted abruptly. The next second, they rejoiced, spread out in order, and surrounded Qin Yi in the middle.
But Qin Yi didn’t seem to notice the change and ran right into the circle.
The men then closed in on him.
All of a sudden, there was a blinding flash of light—so strong that it brought tears to their eyes. They weren’t able to see anything.
It was another basic Taoist technique: flash.
The light died down after a split second, and they could faintly make out Qin Yi smashing his spiked club into their companion who was disguised as a soft bean curd vendor. While the others were yet to recover from the blinding light, Qin Yi ran out of the encirclement, laughing loudly as he dashed off.
He had killed both of his personal enemies in such a short period of time, and he couldn’t begin to describe how satisfying that felt.
Liusu had remained silent the entire time without giving Qin Yi any instructions. It was as if it was watching his performance. It only started speaking in a casual tone after Qin Yi stopped laughing. “No wonder you like Li Qingjun.”
He was able to apply seemingly useless low-level cultivation techniques to actual battles, which wasn’t all that surprising as it was expected Qin Yi would do that.
However, he had run toward an army of enemies instead of running away from them, and he laughed loudly as he left his killing site. This behavior didn’t seem like Qin Yi at all.
Liusu had always considered Qin Yi a laid-back kind of man who didn’t care much about the world, but as it turned out, he had the heart of a heroic knight, which reminded Liusu of that rainy night in the Taoist temple when a streak of silver light charged at the demon spider despite her fear. She seemed unstoppable that night.
Maybe Qin Yi had always had it in him, and it only showed itself after Li Qingjun entered his life… That was why he had admired her from the very beginning. He wasn’t infatuated with her; he had only seen in her the part of him that had been dulled by his peaceful, comfortable life.
He then saw his personal enemies in an ambush after living a repressive life in the capital city, and his wild side finally woke up.
“Yes.” Qin Yi had no idea how far Liusu had thought and only replied with a smile. “I like Qingjun a lot.”
Liusu chuckled, which sounded full of meaning.
After steadying his breath, Qin Yi looked over his shoulder to see that he had shaken off his pursuers. In fact, those men had been so astonished by his tricks that they had given up following him. They slowed down after a short while and watched him dash off.
Qin Yi finally relaxed down a little. The little spiritual essence he had had already been used up, and even his internal energy felt strained. He now finally had a chance to recover a little.
He took out an energy restoration pill, stuffed it into his mouth, and continued running toward the princess’s residence as he regulated his breathing. After another block, he saw the residence up ahead.
Qin Yi ran up to the guard and asked, “Is the princess in?”
The guard smiled at him. “Young Master Qin, Her Royal Highness is inside. Please come in.”
“Thank you.” Qin Yi was about the walk up the stairs when he paused. “Wait, who do you know I’m Qin Yi?”
The guard grinned. “Young Master Qin, you’ve made quite a scene with the princess at the state banquet, so of course we heard about you. Even if we haven’t met you before, we’ve heard descriptions of you. Your spiked club is very hard to miss.”
“I see.” Qin Yi tightened his grip on the spiked club and asked, “Those men and I made so much noise just a block away, but why didn’t you people do anything?”
The guard seemed baffled. “Any commotion on the outside isn’t our business. Plus, we didn’t know you were under attack…”
Qin Yi raised his club before the man could finish. “All I said was some noise, so how did you know I was being attacked?!”
Fearing that he might be mistaken, Qin Yi didn’t apply much strength in his strike, and it was only meant to be a threat. However, the man’s cover was still blown. A pike stuck out from inside, hiding the head of the spiked club and saving the guard.
Someone heaved a sigh inside. “Brother Qin, with that spiked club in your hand, I didn’t know you could be so clever.”
The front gate was opened, revealing Mang Zhan and his men in the middle of the courtyard. The two fake guards also fell back to the side and seemed to be his confidants.
Qin Yi stepped away from the stairs and narrowed his eyes. “Where is Qingjun?”
Mang Zhan said in a mysterious voice, “Brother Qin, what do you think?”
Qin Yi looked up at the buildings inside and suddenly spun around, mumbling, “Such an idiot. If I were him, I would’ve taken her to my own place to enjoy my victory if I had snatched her, and my minions alone would’ve been enough for this show. Why would he be part of it? Of course Qingjun is still at the crown prince’s residence.”
He walked so fast that by the time he stopped talking, he was half a block away.
Mang Zhan was furious. As he ran after Qin Yi with his men, he shouted, “Masters, what are you waiting for?!”
Demonic energy filled the air.
A black owl with a human-like face whooshed close from the left side. Meanwhile, a giant centipede jumped out from under the pavement, breaking the slab stones.
It was quite a terrifying scene.
However, Qin Yi only chuckled. Raising his spiked club, he leapt up and smashed down at the centipede’s head. “Even Night Wing barely survived the seven-star formation, so two petty, untransformed demons like you should consider yourself very lucky to still be breathing. How dare you try to intimidate me?!”
After a loud thump, the centipede had its head smashed in before its entire body was out of the ground. It died instantly. The owl halted abruptly in midair and hastily flew away, leaving behind a few fallen feathers. It was quite a sorry scene.
Infuriated, Mang Zhan ran wildly after Qin Yi, but the latter had already dashed off.
Despite Qin Yi’s casual tone, he was very concerned deep down.
Because Donghuazi didn’t have a big army but he should have quite a few capable cultivators. And he should also have more demons than the ones that had survived Minghe’s formation and could only intimidate ordinary men. Some powerful demons were bound to be hidden away somewhere. However, this entire time, Qin Yi had only run into ordinary warriors.
Of course, it was also because he wasn’t the center of this game. Although they wanted to kill him, it wouldn’t affect their plan very much even if he ran away. Those people would know better than to make him their main target. However, this group of men had been sent to catch Li Qingjun at her place, and they had failed… Qin Yi couldn’t imagine how much pressure the crown prince’s residence was under now.
But that was so strange…
It made sense that they would try to ambush the princess, but why would they besiege the crown prince’s residence in open daylight? The king was still alive. No matter how much trust Donghuazi had gained, this shouldn’t be happening. Qin Yi wondered if he had missed something.